"Hmm. Another book is running late and we have an open slot in September. Christopher's book is ready, right? Let's move that one up a few months."

That kind of thing . . . .

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WHAT? You mean that publishing schedules are not planned out years -- if not decades -- in advance by the Gods of Publishing? You mean publishing works like any other business, and adapts to take advantage of last-minute changes and conditions?

I'm shocked, I tell you. Shocked.

BTW Greg, you didn't, by any chance, edit Scalzi's Fuzzy Nation, did you? If not, can you reveal who did? (Just to satisfy my curiosity, I don't have any stalkeresque motives.)

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Exactly. No big drama here. Just the usual tinkering with the schedule, especially when you consider that Fall 2012 is still a year away.

To be honest, I don't know who edited Fuzzy Nation. I'm just a consultant at Tor these days so I don't know the list as thoroughly as I did when I was working there full-time. Sorry.

"Hmm. Another book is running late and we have an open slot in September. Christopher's book is ready, right? Let's move that one up a few months."

That kind of thing . . . .

Click to expand...

WHAT? You mean that publishing schedules are not planned out years -- if not decades -- in advance by the Gods of Publishing? You mean publishing works like any other business, and adapts to take advantage of last-minute changes and conditions?

I'm shocked, I tell you. Shocked.

BTW Greg, you didn't, by any chance, edit Scalzi's Fuzzy Nation, did you? If not, can you reveal who did? (Just to satisfy my curiosity, I don't have any stalkeresque motives.)

Click to expand...

Exactly. No big drama here. Just the usual tinkering with the schedule, especially when you consider that Fall 2012 is still a year away.

To be honest, I don't know who edited Fuzzy Nation. I'm just a consultant at Tor these days so I don't know the list as thoroughly as I did when I was working there full-time. Sorry.

The cover for Only Superhuman has just been released on Facebook and my blog. And here it is:

I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect cover for this book. It marvelously conveys the novel’s sense of high-flying action and adventure in a high-tech setting, and the flamboyance and power of its heroine, Emerald Blair (aka the Green Blaze). It makes the novel look exciting and energetic, and that should help sell copies. (This scene doesn’t appear in the book, but it’s kind of an amalgam of elements of the opening and climactic action sequences.)

And it’s a marvelous portrait of Emerald Blair. First off, I’m stunned and honored by how closely artist Raymond Swanland followed my character design drawings. Allowing for a bit of idealization, and my own limited ability to translate my visual ideas to paper, it’s as authentic a portrait of Emry as I could’ve hoped for. More, it captures her personality and the life she leads very well. She looks like she just hurled herself off the top of a skyscraper without giving any thought to what happens next. She’s totally focused on fighting the bad guys and won’t let little things like plans or gravity distract her. She’s in an incredibly precarious and dangerous situation and she looks completely at home there. Yes, she is presented in a sexual, glamorous way too, but that’s in character for her, and it’s a very athletic, active, powerful kind of sexiness that (at least to my eye) complements the impression of strength and competence in this image rather than undermining it.

In any case, it’s an ideal way to introduce Emerald Blair to the world, and I’m very happy with it.

That's an impressive cover. Very appealing. Very intense without being overwhelming. It gives a real sense of action (you can almost feel the adrenaline rush) yet it's still subtle in its colours and details. Looks like they picked the right artist.

Kevin very generously offered to read the manuscript months ago and gave us our very first quote.

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I've always wondered how exactly that worked. When publishers are trying to promote their book, do they just call up authors who write in a related genre and ask them if they'd be willing to give them a quote?

Kevin very generously offered to read the manuscript months ago and gave us our very first quote.

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I've always wondered how exactly that worked. When publishers are trying to promote their book, do they just call up authors who write in a related genre and ask them if they'd be willing to give them a quote?

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Basically, you work whatever connections you have and rely on the kindness of friends and colleagues. One also tries to approach authors who might be sympatico to the subject matter and appeal to the same audience. (I wouldn't approach Anne Rice for a quote on an interplanetary hard-sf adventure!)

In this case, I contacted various authors, asked them if they would be willing to look at an advance copy of the manuscript, then crossed my fingers and hoped they liked it enough to give us a quote!

So far we've gotten great quotes from Kevin Anderson, Mike Barr, and Stanley Schmidt, and I'm hoping for more before we have to go to press . . . .